Posted by mommyfranklin at July 5th, 2007
Emily has started her own blog. She’s had it since March, but has just recently decided to start using it again. For now, she tells me what she wants to say and I type it for her. She will be blogging about books she reads, things she does, and just life as the big sister of two crazy boys. Check it out when you get a chance!
http://franklinprincess.blogspot.com
Posted by mommyfranklin at June 30th, 2007
Well, it seems that Zachary is following in his brother’s footsteps. No, he’s not insisting on being called Zachary Douglas Franklin or Timothy Reagan Franklin, for that matter. He is Zachee. I really don’t think this is going to last just real long, but it sure has led to some fun conversations.
As the newness of having a two-story house has not worn off yet, the kids and I often spend at least 15 minutes each day sitting on the stairs talking about various things. This is generally when we are waiting for Scott to come home. The stairs are right by the front door, so it is a good place to sit and wait for him. The other day, Timothy thought it’d be fun to slide down the stairs on his tummy. As I reached down and grabbed his hand to pull him back up I accidentally called him Zachary, something I do several times a day. He quickly corrected me, telling me that his name is Timothy Reagan Franklin and then pointed at Zachary while he told me that he is Zachary. As is usually the case, Zachary chimed in pointing to himself saying, “I Zachee.” I responded to Zachary saying, “you’re not Zachee, you’re Timothy.” Zachary explained in his two-year-old way that he was not Timothy. Timothy was on the stairs. His actual words were, “no, I not Timo, I Zachee, Timo on stairs.” So, I started naming other people and Zachary would explain to me he is Zachary and would tell me where that person was. I learned that ANYONE that was not in our house at that moment was at work. And, yes, I mean anyone — Scott, Grandmama, Grandmother, Granddad, Granddaddy, Gran, Ol’ Granddad, Daisy, LD, Drake, Nicole, Mindy, Jonathan, Karissa. Apparently, Zachary is not any of those people. He’s Zachee. And, I learned that Zachary knows that I mean Daddy when I say Scott. Maybe that kid’s catching on.
This was not the only time Zachary has insisted that he is Zachee. For instance, if I ask him if he’s messed his diaper. His response is, “I not biper, I Zachee.” Or if I tell him that his bread is in his tummy, he’ll say, “I not tummy, I Zachee.” You get the idea. If you are talking to him and say the word “your” or “you’re” followed by anything besides Zachary, prepare to be corrected. Just so you know, he is not a big boy or a baby. He is Zachee.
This morning, he took it one more step. I said, “Good morning, Zachary.”. In response, he said, “I not Zach-a-ree, I Zachee.”
Excuse me, son. I really think you’re wrong on that one.
Posted by mommyfranklin at June 29th, 2007
March 1, 2002
I remember that day for several reasons.
1. It was my 25th birthday.
2. I left on the trip with the Acteens that day. I had to be 25 to drive the church van, so I made it in just under the wire. It was icy that day, so I was a little hesitant about taking the trip at all.
3. It was the day I interviewed for a job at Kids First, the Mother’s Day Out at First Baptist Church. When I was preparing for that interview, I thought I was interviewing to be a teacher. I had spent a good deal of time considering which age group I wanted to teach. Emily would be in the two year old class there, and I had had a hard time deciding if I wanted to teach her class or not. It was not until I was in the interview that I learned that I was being offerred the job as director, a job I accepted and stayed with for three years.
Last week, I was trying to find a place where Zachary and Timothy could go to school this year so I was visiting a Parent’s Day Out / Preschool at Calvary Baptist Church. I hadn’t planned on this, but while I was there I found myself asking for an employment application. I spent the next few days filling it out again laboring over the question about which age group I want to teach. I finally settled in on any age except the two’s or four’s. I love my boys, but think it would be good for them to be with someone besides me once in a while.
Yesterday, I had the interview. I learned that they have two openings in the Parent’s Day Out — one in the babies (6-12 months) class and one in the toddler (12-17 months) class. Pending approval from the Minister of Education, I will be the toddler teacher Monday through Thursday from 8:30 – 2:45. I am so excited that I will actually be in a classroom, not in the director’s position. The director acknowledged that my experience as a director and my education degree make me overqualified for the class and she encouraged me to move to a preschool position if they ever have an opening, but I am really quite pleased with where I’ll be. That may change after a few months of working with toddlers, but I really think this will be a good way to transition back into a classroom. Working with toddlers won’t be that different from leading the teachers, will it? Don’t get me wrong, I liked being the director of Kids First after I survived the first year. It was ideal for me at the time, especially since I was pregnant during part of each year I worked there. My boss and I became great friends and I will never regret taking that job. But, a different role will be good!
Zachary will be in a room just down the hall. This is his first time time in a school setting since he was 6 months old, so I am glad I won’t be far away. The biggest program they have is their pre-k program. They have 5 half-day classes with 12 kids each in them. Timothy will be in one of those classes just down stairs from where I am. Then, at lunchtime, he’ll move into the parent’s day out part for the rest of the day. He will go on Friday mornings as well, which will be my time for grocery shopping and some one-on-one with Zachary. I’ve already started having some ideas for some one-on-one with Timothy and Emily.
During the interview, the kids were playing in a room adjacent to the office. Emily got to talking to a girl whose mom works there. Turns out she is going to be a 2nd Grader at Crestview Elementary, the same school Emily will be going to in the Fall. The two of them quickly hit it off. It’ll be good for her to see a familiar face when she starts to school in a few weeks.
Posted by mommyfranklin at June 2nd, 2007
It’s a bit of an exaggeration to say we’ve been here a full week now. We’ve been back to Plainview four times in the last week for various reasons. Sunday morning we went to church and stayed through the afternoon to get another load of stuff from the house and to attend the Memorial Day picnic at the church. (Truth be told, we also went because internet was not set up here yet and we needed a fix!)
Tuesday we went to sign closing papers to complete the sell of our house, to return to the house to get the tree house from the backyard (thanks for the help with that, Jon!) and to sweep and mop, and hang around with friends until Timothy’s t-ball game that evening. It was a fairly easy day for me, despite the massive allergy attack that came from hanging out with cats all afternoon. Scott’s day wasn’t as great. Things didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped with the u-haul we had rented to move the tree house. Unfortunately, the delay caused him to miss Timothy’s game. This was a problem considering that Timothy’s ball glove was in Scott’s car in Lubbock. Oh well, that’s what the return policy at Wal-Mart is all about, right? And luckily Scott and Jon made it back in time for ice cream after the game.
Thursday we went to pick up a pencil portrait of Zachary that had been framed. If I ever find the digital camera, I will take a picture of it and tell you all about our pencil portraits. It’s something we started when Emily was 2 and we are delighted to have a complete set now. Timothy also had a t-ball game that day, so we made it to town just before the frame store closed and stayed through his game.
Today, I returned to Plainview yet again. This time was a quick trip to pick Emily up from a birthday party. She spent the night with one of her best friend’s last night and stayed until the party today. Luckily, the birthday girl was in Lubbock yesterday taking care of her cousin (well, her mom was taking care of the baby), so they picked Emily up to take her to Plainview for the night. If I’d been thinking, I would have asked if Emily could hitch a ride home with the birthday girl’s aunt today. Oh well, maybe next time.
Are you keeping track?
Saturday — moved our stuff loaded in a 26′ U-haul, a minivan and two cars
Sunday — went back with our two vehicles to get the rest of the stuff
Tuesday — went back in van and a 10′ U-haul, and later with Scott’s car
Thursday — went back in van
Saturday — went back in van
I don’t know how much more of this our gas budget can take! I think the only time we are going back this week is for Timothy’s last t-ball game this Thursday. Then we’ll have to come up with new excuses to go see our friends.
Posted by mommyfranklin at June 2nd, 2007
This post comes to you from a new zip code! We’ve moved. We’ve been here one full week now.
When we were signing closing papers on Tuesday, I discovered that I had made a couple of wrong assumptions about the people who were buying our house. Shame on me!
First, I had assumed that, because we had purchased the house from a young family, the new owners would also be a young couple / family. No matter how much I tried to neutralize the house to show it, there was no hiding the fact that three young children lived in the house. But I was wrong. The new owners of the house are a very nice couple about the age of our parents. I can’t imagine someone living in that house without the constant noise that we created.
Second, I had assumed that the quick sell of our home was due largely to the fact that we had just installed a radiant heat range to replace the absolutely hideous 27″ drop-in electric range with coil burners that I had put up with for the past 7 years. While I am confident that the absence of the old one helped tremendously, I was just stunned when the buyers asked us if there was a gas line behind the range as they were hoping to put their gas range in there. There is no gas line, so I guess they will just have to live with that beautiful range.
Here I have lovely 30″ drop-in electric range with coil burners. At least it’s better than the one we replaced in Plainview. I should point out that we put in a radiant heat electric range not long before we moved from Lubbock seven years ago. It’s the mark we leave on houses that we own. Maybe one of these days we will actually be in a house that has a radiant heat range that I will actually get to use for more than a couple months.
Posted by mommyfranklin at May 10th, 2007
It’s really happening. We’re really moving to Lubbock in just a couple weeks. This really sunk in today. Because we are unsure of how long we’ll be in Lubbock, we’ve decided to rent. So, after countless hours spent scouring the internet for houses, we went to Lubbock yesterday (in the rain) armed with a list of 21 houses that could be just the right one. Our goal was to find a 3 or 4 bedroom house with room for an office. Scott will have a station in a lab at Tech, but no official office. So, he needs a place to put his stuff. We had opportunity to go in three houses and drove by several others yesterday. Today, we returned with the list narrowed down to 10. We went in 4 houses today and drove by a few others.
And, now there is one. We’ve decided on a home located in the Southwest part of Lubbock and plan to move in the weekend of May 25th. Our current home is sold, with a closing date set for the morning of May 29th.
Having spent the last couple days in Lubbock, I am getting excited about the move. I am sad to leave friends behind, but look forward to living in a larger city. So, now in the midst of finishing the online course I am teaching and Scott and I both preparing to teach in the term that begins May 29, we will be packing up our belongings to move. Not to mention all the festivities that this time of year entails for the children!
And did I mention there is brand new Wal-Mart just around the corner from our new house? That seems to be a priority of ours….
Posted by mommyfranklin at April 14th, 2007
On Tuesday, I had a meeting with our pastor about some plans the Acteens have made for this summer. While I was there, he started talking about our move to Lubbock. He is of the opinion that we should get an economical car for Scott to commute back and forth to Lubbock, and he commented about how much the church is going to miss watching our kids grow up. He complimented me on the job we are doing raising them. I have a hard time accepting compliments, especially on my parenting, so I said something along the lines that we got lucky in that the kids are generally pretty good. He said that is because our parenting style is pretty laid back. We know what’s going on with our kids, but allow them to do their own thing so long as it’s not harmful to themselves or others. He said we’re doing it right.
I’ve never heard our parenting style described that way before, so it got me thinking. Since our conversation, I really started paying attention to what we do as parents that would be characterized as laid back.
As the kids were going to bed close to 9:30 for the third school night in a row, it occurred to me that there may be such a thing as being too laid back. So, the kids were in bed by 8:00 and asleep by 8:30 on Thursday. It’s amazing how smoothly Friday morning went as Emily was getting ready for school.
Another example that came to mind was the fact that we are home spending time together as a family most nights. Mostly this is because I have some students who come over for tutoring after school three days a week. We have dinner together every day. I don’t know how laid back that is, since it is something that I am pretty stubborn about wanting us to do. We don’t push our kids to sign up for every extra curricular activity that comes their way. In fact, we were pretty relieved this year when Emily never really pushed to do Upward cheerleading this year. She is in one activity besides church and school, and we think that is enough. She has dance class on Tuesday nights. That is the only evening she spends away from the family.
On Tuesday, this got a little complicated. I was tutoring, Emily was gone to ballet, Scott was picking his car up from the shop (or not as the case was that night), so the boys were watching a movie in our bedroom. Well, Zachary is going through the phase that we remember Timothy going through not long ago. He is fascinated by my makeup. Well, as one of my students was about to leave and another had just arrived Zachary came running out of our bedroom. It didn’t take long to discover what he had been doing. His entire face was covered with my foundation. I washed his face and went to survey the damage to the bedroom. It wasn’t pretty. Especially coupled with the fact that his diaper had runneth over. So, I got Zachary and Timothy out of our bedroom and closed the door. I changed Zachary’s clothes and returned to tutoring. Not long after, Scott got home and cleaned up the mess in our bedroom. What a guy! It’s no wonder we don’t want Emily gone much. She at least provides some supervision when we’re not right there.
Timothy is getting old enough now that he needs an out of the house activity. We are facing a decision right now about whether or not he will be playing t-ball this year. The season both here and in Lubbock overlaps with when we hope to move, but he really wants to play.
One thing we think we got right is Friday nights. Saturday is the only day that we do not have morning responsibilities, so we feel no need to force the kids to go to bed on Friday nights. Maybe it’s because we hope they will sleep in on Saturday morning (which they never do), but Friday nights are flexible. We usually don’t make any plans. It’s just a night to do whatever. Often this means the kids will watch a movie or two in Emily’s room or we’ll all just play together. When Zachary gets particularly fussy, we put him in bed and let Emily and Timothy keep doing what they were doing. Generally, they zonk out in Emily’s room during a movie.
Last night was a little different. I was grading papers for the online course I am teaching and Scott was doing something on his computer. The kids were watching Madagascar in Emily’s room. Well, about 10:30, Zachary came wandering into the living room and climbed up on the couch beside me. It wasn’t long before he was asleep. When I finished grading, I went to get a diaper and some pajamas for Zachary so I could put him in bed. On my way to the boys’ room, I peeked in on Emily’s room to see if Emily and Timothy had fallen asleep. The movie was still going, but Emily was sound asleep in her bed. Timothy was not in there. Emily was dressed fairly comfortably, so I pulled her covers up and turned off her TV before going to find Timothy.
First I checked our room. I thought maybe he’d gotten bored with the movie and decided to watch TV in our room. The TV was on the weather channel, but he wasn’t in there. I checked the bathrooms. Nope, he wasn’t there. Then I went into the boys’ room, and there he was. Sound asleep in his bed. Even on the days that he begs me to let him sleep in Emily’s room, he always ends up back in his bed at some point. It’s usually quite a production though, with him crying because he is uncomfortable on Emily’s floor or because the nightlight is too bright. I guess he just decided to skip all that and go to bed on his own. That’s our boy — choosing comfort over fun. He was still wearing jeans, so Scott put some pajama pants on him. I got Zachary’s diaper and pajama pants changed and put him bed.
It was the most unusual bedtime experience we’ve had. I fully expected to be woken up in the mddle of the night by Timothy screaming because he had soaked himself since we didn’t go through the nightly ritual of making him go to the bathroom before bed. When we finished the last package of pullups a few weeks ago, Timothy and I decided he was big enough to sleep in underwear. He’s been day trained since August, but it has taken a bit longer to get him to stay dry through the night. He’s had a couple wet nights in the last few weeks, which he informed me were my fault because I did not wake him to go to the bathroom before I went to bed, but he has consistently stayed dry for over a week now. I did get woken up around 2:30am to his screams, but it wasn’t because he was wet. It was because he wanted his sleep music to be playing. Now there’s a problem that I can deal with at 2:30 in the morning.
Scott and I never really put a lot of thought in our parenting style. We always figured we’d just hang on and enjoy the ride. And so far, it’s been the ride of our lives!
Posted by mommyfranklin at March 15th, 2007
It’s been a few weeks since my last blog. It’s not for lack of activity. Things have been moving at a pretty quick pace lately. I think a recap is due!
Emily was scheduled to be baptized on February 25th. Well, on February 23rd she started feeling bad and running a low-grade fever. The next day (24th), that low-grade fever climbed up to about 101 and stayed there despite the fact that we were giving her Ibuprofen and Acetaminophen. The poor thing was sick. She had plans to attend a birthday party in Lubbock that day, but obviously was not able to go. Sunday morning (25th) her temperature had climbed to 102, so we made all the necessary calls to postpone her baptism. Sunday night, she had a temperature of 103 so we called the doctor to find out how high of a temperature was too high. He told us if her temperature reached 104, we should take her to the emergency room. The next day was a school holiday (President’s day a week late because of the all-mighty TAKS test that had been taken the week before), and she seemed to be feeling pretty good. Her temperature had returned to the 100s range, and we were starting to see some resemblance of the Emily we all know and love so much. Luckily, mom and dad had come to town for Emily’s baptism and were staying to help us out around the house and to celebrate my birthday. We were on the 4th day of Emily’s fever, so I left the boys at home and took her in to see the doctor. I almost didn’t take her since see seemed to be feeling a lot better, but I was glad I took her when we learned that she had Type A Influenza — the flu. The doctor gave her a prescription for Tamiflu and instructions to stay out of school for two more days. He told me to call if anyone else in the house started to run a fever, and that he would call in prescriptions of Tamiflu for the rest of us. Great.
That was Monday. Emily continued to feel bad and run fever until Thursday. On Wednesday (28th) morning, Timothy started running a low-grade fever. By that night, Zachary also had the fever. Scott, Dad, and I were doing okay, but Mom was definitely showing signs of coming down with the flu. We kept working around the sickies. Mom and I painted the kitchen cabinets. When Scott wasn’t at work, he and dad did some drywall repair work (Scott is so proud of his new found talent!), replaced our range and microwave, and replaced our backdoor.
Thursday (March 1st) was my 30th birthday. The house was full of sickies. Emily’s (who had been the sickest!) temperature finally returned to normal, and we did manage to celebrate by eating out at Chili’s and Scott baked a cake. I got some canisters and a tupperware organizer. All in all, it was a good day.
Friday (2nd), Emily went back to school and mom and dad went home. It was time to return to our lives. There was still a lot to be done around the house. We spent the next week finishing some projects that had been begun the week before – repairing fascia boards, painting the kitchen and the utility room. Things are really starting to look nice and refreshed. All this had to be done around work hours.
And, of course, the inevitable happened. On Wednesday (7th), I started feeling bad with a sore throat and head ache. When I went to bed that night, my temperature was over 100. My illness seemed closer to what the boys had. My fever broke around 6:00 on Thursday evening and I have been on the mend ever since. My throat ached for a few days, but I am doing much better now.
This week is Spring Break. Since we’re all feeling better and don’t have to work, we are wrapping up the home projects. Rain has kept Scott from doing yard work (until today!), so he has been hard at work scrubbing floors, regrouting the bathrooms, and staining the new door. I have painted our bedroom and all the baseboards. The house is looking so nice. Today I plan to organize some closets and shampoo the carpet.
You may be wondering why we are doing all this housework. It’s not just crazy Spring cleaning. We are moving. Scott has taken a post-doc research position at Texas Tech. He starts June 1. So, we are returning to Lubbock. We’d rather him not commute, so we need to get the house on the market ASAP and pray for a quick sell!
Emily is getting baptized on Sunday. Hopefully we can keep everyone well until then!
Posted by mommyfranklin at January 23rd, 2007
I like snow. Really, I do. I love the way it makes the trees look. I like having snowball fights and building snowmen. I’ve even been known to make a snow angel on occasion. As long as I don’t have to drive in it, I’m happy.
It started snowing on Friday and didn’t stop until Saturday afternoon. According to the paper, we got 6 inches. Not as much as expected, but it really was a nice amount. It was the second weekend in a row that weather has kept us homebound, since we had a nice layer of ice everywhere last week. I’d take snow over ice any day.
I know Scott already posted pictures from the fun we had in the snow on Saturday, but I wanted to post the ones I took too.
Before we went out to play, we made snow ice cream. Zachary really liked that!
Emily made snow angels (well, we ALL did but I just got pictures of Emily making hers)
Timothy ate snow
We made a Snowman
We wandered down the alley.
After the fun, we warmed up with some hot cocoa and relaxed in the living room. Poor Zachary was worn out.
It’s Tuesday. There is still snow on the ground. School has been delayed two hours the last two days. I am ready for the snow to move on.
Posted by mommyfranklin at December 20th, 2006
It’s been a few years since I’ve been to a wedding. Most of our friends / family are married and starting families, so we attend more baby showers and birthday parties these days. This weekend, something made me reminisce about weddings.
One of my favorite parts of a wedding is the moment when the groom sees his bride as she makes her way down the aisle toward him. In that moment, it’s like there is no one else in the room. The love the bride and groom share is so clear on both their faces. I remember that moment in my own wedding. It was so overwhelming that a single tear trickled down my cheek until Scott wiped it away.
How Beautiful the radiant bride
Who waits for her Groom with His light in her eyes
You may be wondering what made me think of weddings this weekend. We were in Canadian having an early Christmas celebration. Sunday morning, the choir performed their Christmas Cantata. Scott’s mom had a solo. As she sang, I noticed Scott’s dad watching her with a look that I can only describe as being full of love. Orleans put it best:
Still the one — that’s my better half
We’re still having fun, and you’re still the one
You’re still the one — that makes me strong
Still the one — I want to take along
We’re still having fun, and you’re still the one (yes you are)
I hope Scott still looks at me like when we’ve been married 38 years.
The Cantata and our Christmas celebration was great! I will post some pictures soon!
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